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Month: January 2009

No recipe today. Just a recommendation for somewhere to eat if you’re ever visiting the Inverness area.

Dores is a small village on the banks of Loch Ness. It’s only 10 minutes from my house and David and I often go for a walk along the stony beach there throwing sticks into the icy waters for Marco to rescue.

The wee pub at the entrance to the pebbly beach has always been a lovely place for a pint or a coffee but, quite frankly, the food used to suck. No more! Having been taken over by the folk who run the fabulous Ross-shire Storehouse, Dores Inn now serves reasonably priced, locally sourced, highly tasty food.

Delighted.

Won’t say anymore. Think you’ll get the idea from the few pictures I remembered to take. 🙂

Today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of our our national poet, Robert Burns. Suspect even those Scots who don’t usually celebrate the night might be having a wee dram this evening.

We went haggis hunting yesterday afternoon and came back with this lovely specimen. Shall be popping it the oven soon (my preferred method of cooking), bashing some tatties, champing some neeps and settling down for a braw feast.

I’d heard of twice-baked potatoes before but it wasn’t until last weekend that I actually experienced them for the first time. Oh. My. Goodness. So creamy, so tasty, so good!

Wonder if I’ll ever have a normal baked potato again…

If you’re after a most sophisticated filling you could use goats cheese and chives or blue cheese and walnuts or feta and oregano. The options are endless. Have to say though, my favourite is the following strong cheddar and spring onion mixture. It may not be very original but it is really, really good. 🙂

Twice-Baked Potatoes

(serves 2)

3 large potatoes

Knob of butter

50ml milk

1/2 cup grated mature cheddar cheese

4 spring onions, chopped

1 tblspn parsley, chopped

Seasoning

Pre-heat oven to 200 oC. Wet the potatoes and rub them with a little salt. Prick with a fork and bake in the oven for an hour.

Remove potatoes from oven, cut in half length ways and scoop out the inside of the potatoes. Reserve the skins from two of the potatoes.

Mash the potato flesh with the milk, butter and seasoning. Stir through the grated cheese, spring onion and parsley.

Spoon the cheesey potato mixture back into the skins and bake again for 20 minutes at 180 oC.

At this time of the year it is always on my Saturday shopping list and regularly turns up on weeknight dinner plates sautéd with bacon, braised and topped with seared rosemary lamb or shredded for a light coleslaw. But having lived for two years with a fan of the infamous, stinky cabbage soup diet, never ever did I consider letting my own Saturday Savoy work its way into a pot of simmering stock. The thought alone made me wrinkle my nose in disgust.

Just recently, though, everything thing has changed. Just recently I started making this wonderfully fragrant, creamy soup. It looks pretty and it tastes fresh and healthy. I adore it. So much so, in fact, that the cabbages in my kitchen don’t often make it through the weekend. 🙂

Heat a little olive oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook for a couple of minutes until just beginning to soften. Add the shredded cabbage and continue cooking for a few more minutes.

Add the lemongrass, garlic, ginger and chilli to the pan and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

In a seperate pan bring the stock and coconut milk almost to the boil then immediately add to the cabbage. Simmer very gently for between 3 and 8 minutes depending on how soft or crunchy you like your cabbage

Turn off the heat. Add the lime juice and seasoning to taste. Serve scattered with coriander leaves.